POMONA >> Not only did police talk the talk Wednesday. They walked the walk. In an effort to engage the people they serve, the department’s top officers got out and shook hands, listened and answered questions in the neighborhood surrounding Willie White Community Center.

James Beyea had been a Los Angeles Police Department patrol officer for only three months in June 1988 when he was sent to a burglary call in North Hollywood. There, he confronted two teenagers, who turned out to be gang members, trying to steal goods from a stereo shop.

POMONA >> The Pomona Host Lions presented $5,000 in mini-grants to Pomona Unified School District classroom teachers for instructional enrichment at its 10th mini-grant reception, held at the Associated Pomona Teachers office.

EL MONTE >> When federal authorities announced last month that gang members with ties to the Mexican Mafia were using a local Boys & Girls Club to hold meetings and sell drugs, many of the facilities’ patrons and leaders were stunned.

ONTARIO >> Bill Hanlon still can’t get over the idea that servicemen and women may been locked out of the USO Ontario in the four days since its manager was fired. After being shut down on Friday, the center reopened on Tuesday -- a day earlier than expected.

Business leaders, elected officials and a score of other movers and shakers gathered Friday night at Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena to salute this year’s honorees at the 10th annual San Gabriel Valley Awards Gala.

An alternative — but still nameless — Boy Scouts of America is holding its inaugural national leadership convention this weekend in Nashville, Tenn. Its membership policy will focus on “sexual purity rather than sexual orientation,” said John Stemberger, founder of OnMyHonor.

CHINO HILLS >> Sharon Montagne is a member of the city’s 55 Plus Senior Club, but her vocabulary states otherwise: Line dancing, Zumba and aerobics. On Thursday, Montage and about 100 other seniors expressed how they want to stay young and active once the city’s new 17,000-square-foot Community Center facility opens its doors in the fall.

Pomona >> Sam Murguia will be a junior at Claremont High School when classes begin again next week. But that was far from a sure thing, the summer after her freshman year of high school. “It was last year, a month before summer break, when I started getting sick,” said, Sam, now 16.